Sanchez-Laborin E-Museum

Above. Click to enlarge. Above is a list of Grandfather Joaquín’s father, mother and brother’s and sister’s from the 1900 census in Tucson Arizona, Pima County. This is the baseline for my grandfather’s family living under Salvador Sanchez, head of household.

Below, an olderbrother (Guadalupe) signed the birth certificate for Victor Gastelo Sanchez in 1889. Guadalupe is not listed in the 1900 census but now is shown in the Sanchez family tree (ancestry.com). According to the birth certificate, in 1889 Salvador’s family lived in San Xavier, south of Tucson Arizona. These records are in the Sanchez family tree in ancestry.com as of August 2026.

On Victor’s 1889 birth certificate below, Guadalupe shows his address at the Rincon Ranch located east of Tucson in Rincon Valley (now called Rocking K Ranch). Located some 30 miles away at the base of the Rincon Mountains, it is far removed from San Xavier, where his family lived (below #10). Guadalupe’s residence so far away from his parents puzzles me.

Father Salvador Sanchez.Above. Guadalupe describes Salvador’s profession as a cowboy, consistent with the cattle herder title in the 1900 census. Guadalupe also shows his father’s birthplace as Altar, Sonora on the birth certificate. Altar is located a couple of hours south of Nogales. It’s a small town as it surely was back in 1853. Having just driven through there, I could see how the Santa Cruz river valley south of Nogales would draw Salvador north towards Tucson. Cattle herding was and still is part of the culture south and north of Nogales.

Above. Some 37 years after Victor G. Sanchez was born, he signed the death certificate for his father Salvador in 1926. Victor identified his father’s birthplace as Guaymas, Sonora. Perhaps Altar, Sonora was a forgotten memory. Perhaps he lived both places but details were forgotten. I could find no other records for Salvador.

The photo comparison between Robert Sanchez’s file and Grandfather Joaquín’s photo of Salvador, his father. On the Salvador’s birth certificate, Victor’s described Salvador as a “Laborer”. He adapted from being a cowboy to doing what had to do to earn a living. I am pleased to see an original photo of my 76 year bis-abuelo old from my grandfather’s camera.

Living in the San Xavier-Helvetia-Rincon Ranch area (Google Earth Photo-Self-Annotated). Victor’s birth certificate (1889) indicated their residence as San Xavier. San Xavier probably referred to the south of and outside the reservation limits of the San Xavier del Bac’s Mission. Between 1880 and 1900, United States citizens, Mexican citizens and the Mexican-Americans began to sparsely populate homesteads and small adobe hamlets along the Santa Cruz River.    Perhaps the territorial government made temporary visits near the San Xavier Mission for recording births in this newly developing area.

The 1900 census included their residence in a large precinct of unmapped land south and east of Tucson. By the 1910 census their residence was listed as the Coronado National Forest (Helvetia). Turns out by 1910 much of these homesteads were on federal land, which by then had been designated as part of the national forest (east of the Santa Cruz River). Sonoran and Mexican-American families ranchers, farmers and mine workers also often identified their community with the nearest landmark: San Xavier. And sometimes they used the settlement names. Below is a 1908 voter registration document showing the oldest siblings, Guadalupe (26), Tomás (25) and Jose G. Sanchez (21) listing their location as Helvetia (see Google Photo).

Above. Click to enlarge. I searched on images of homesteads and read articles of Sonoran and Mexican-American families south of Tucson. Between 1880-1910, the families or the father would often move to where work was needed. I think 90 Convent Street in the 1920 census was their first street address in Tucson (within Barrio Libre). The photo of the adobe house is from my Grandfather’s photo album. Salvador Sanchez (20) is standing on 10th street in the same area in 1920.

Josepha Sepúlveda. On Salvador’s death certificate, Victor shows Salvador’s mother’s “Maiden Name” as Josepha Sepúlveda, from Guaymas. Between 1880-1920, Arizona transitioned from Mexico’s marriage surname system to the system used in the United States. In Mexico, her full last name would have been Josepha – paternal last name- maternal last name, unchanged with marriage. I think we’re seeing Victor using using the paternal last name Sepúlveda as her maiden last name.

Mother Emilia Gastello.  At times also spelled Amelia (also Emilia or Emelia), Ancestry.com mistakes her name in the 1900 census as Anicilia. She was born in 1864 in Hermosillo, Sonora. Below. In Emilia Sanchez’s death certificate, Victor used Emilia de Sanchez, a Mexican form of recognizing her marriage to Salvador. Victor Sanchez also writes Emilia’s father’s name as “Miguel Gastelo”. “Gastelo” was Emilia’s paternal last name that she used as her “maiden name” in the records above. In all the records I found, her children adopted her maiden name as their middle name. The name changed over the years from Gastelo, Gastello then Gastelum. The name has a Basque origin.

Guadalupe G. Sanchez. Records for the Salvador Sanchez family began with the 1900 census. According to the census, they were married twenty years prior – around 1880. Robert’s Sanchez’s file does not show a Guadalupe Sanchez. But it is certain he was a sibling. Below. Click to enlarge. Left. Grandfather Joaquín Sanchez signed Guadalupe’s death certificate in 1958. Below Right. Click to enlarge. Guadalupe married an older women from Sonora, Isabel Olivas in 1916. They had no children.

Below. The 1940 census gives Guadalupe’s age as 57 years old and Isabel’s age as 67 years old. Her death certificate indicates her birthdate as 1863. The most plausible date from various records suggest he was born 1882 in Arizona.

The 1930 census clearly shows Guadalupe and Isabel living on “Rincon Road”. Rincon Road lead to Rincon Ranch below the Rincon Montains. This is the same Rincon Ranch indicated as Guadalpe’s residence on Victor’s 1889 birth certificate. By 1940, the owner of Rincon Ranch, Melivin Haskell, moved his operation to the Rincon Stock farm on Fort Lowell Road. Below. Click to enlarge. All his records show them living at Rincon Stock farm until the time of his death. Melvin Haskell was his apparent long-term employer/friend. And for some reason he uses the name Salvador Guadalupe Sanchez on his 1941 military registration (below left). No other records indicate this name.

Tomás G. Sanchez.  He was born in December 1881 in Arizona according to the 1900 census. The 1900 census indicates he still lived at home and worked as a day laborer. He married a Guadalupe Ramirez in 1906 (below)

Below is a record of an accident in 1909 in which he was killed at 26 years of age. He died in Helvetia, AZ falling from a horsewagon. Like many mining towns from that period, it’s currently a ghost town. This record states he was born near the historic Canoa Ranch in Pima County in 1882 (see Google Photo).

Robert Sanchez visited the Helvetia cemetary, the site of the buriel of Tomás Sanchez.  At the buriel site he found posted “Aquí descansan los restos de Tomás G. Sanchez que nacío el 1882 y murió el 1909. Es un recuerdo de su hermano Victor. Esto fue puesto en el 1976 en el 29 de Julio.” Below is a photo I found on ancestry.com.

Guadalupe (Lupita). Daughter.  The 1900 census states she was born in 1883. She was 16 years old and born in Arizona. Interestingly, her name is not in Robert Sanchez’s file. One family tree on acestry.com mentions a daughter Guadalupe in a Salvador lineage but I found no other information. At age 26,in the 1910 census she’s no longer living with family.

Jose G. Sanchez. Below. According to the 1900 census, Jose Gastello Sanchez was born in 1888 and his age is 11 years. The most plausible birth date based on all records is Dec. 6th 1986. The Salvador Sanchez 1910 census states his occupation was copper mining. By the 1920 census, Jose is already living in Superior, AZ where a large mine operation still exists.

Robert Sanchez’s file details all of Jose’s children and grandchildren, many of whom had spread to San Jose, CA. Below is a snapshot of their family tree I saved in an excel file that I started in 2002 for my family tree. Again, apparently disconnects appear between records. But I did speak to Roberto Sanchez’s son, born 1964 (Robert Sanchez).

Jose died on Dec. 23, 1944 in Superior, Arizona. By the 1920 census Robert Sanchez’s file states grandfathers death was caused by silicosis and tuburcolosis. He apparently worked at the mine in Superior, AZ until his death.

Victor G. Sanchez.    Below. Click to enlarge. We know Victor was born Nov. 3rd, 1889 in San Xavier, Arizona (the area). The 1910 census shows that he’s 20 years old and he’s working at the same “Copper Mining Co.” as Jose Sanchez, his brother (22 years old).

Above. Above Victor G. Sanchez married Jesus Monriel (Monreal) August 20th, 1924 in Nogales Arizona.

Above. Click to enlarge. The 1930 census states gives Victor’s age as 38 and Jesus as 37 years old. Jesus Monriel was born in Mexico, as were her two children born: Victoria in 1912 (age 15) and Rosendo in 1917 (age 13).

Above. Click to enlarge. A comparison of a photo from Joaquin’s photo album and the scanned photo of Victor later in life.

This is where Victor’s life get’s confusing. A 1933 directory shows Victor (boilermaker) and Jesus living at 931 S street. Below. Click to enlarge. A 1941 directory shows Victor G. Sanchez (boilermaker) living with a Rosenda at 931 S street. And the 1950 census shows Victor (age 61) working for the railroad and living with wife Rosenda (53) (Below right). I found no other records. Robert’s file states Victor G. Sanchez died in 1978 in Sonora. Ancestry.com meta data from Social Security confirms he died Jan. 1978 with his last residence shown as Tucson, Arizona.

And to just add to Victor’s mysterious life, I found a 1917 military registry that shows he’s a boiler maker working with the Southern Pacific Railroad. But it also says he lived at 215 Convent and has a wife and two children. I checked the handwriting. In 1917, was he trying to avoid WWI?

Josefa Sanchez. Daughter.  Born in 1893 (or March 19th, 1892 below), the 1900 census states Josefa was 7 years old in that year. Josefa was just three years older than Joaquín. By the 1910 census, she had already left home. Robert’s file has a note that she eloped with a man Antonio Preciado in 1908. Below. He further discussed the death certificate below. She apparently died October 23rd, 1912, just six days after giving birth to their child, also named Josefa. Unfortunately, there probably are no photos of her in Grandfather Joaquin photo album. Josepha Preciado was raised by Antonio and his new wife. This information is in Robert Sanchez’s file.

Emelia Sanchez.  Daughter.  By the 1920 census, Emelia (now Amelia) Sanchez had already left home. Robert Sanchez’s file state’s she was born Feb. 16th 1898 and married Pedro Peyron in April 1919. Ancestry.com shows a 1920 census entry for Pete Peyron (age 26) and “Amelia” Peyron (age 21) both born in Arizona as husband and wife. Below is the photo I found in Grandfather Joaquin’s album and a photo found in Rober Sanchez’s research.

Below. Click to enlarge. The 1940 census shows three Peyron children living at home: Dora (age 19), Angelina (age 18) and Juliene (age 12). By the 1950 census Juliene’s name appears as Julia Peyron. Robert Sanchez’s file states Angelina married a man with the last name Harris and lists a number of children. His file also states that Dora Peyron married a Bill Jaggers and they had a son Jackie. The 1950 census suggests Dora had a child named Jacqueline with another man (Bonnano), as she and the granddaughter lived under Amelia’s roof. Julia Peyron married a Camacho. Julia Camacho was living in Douglas, Az at the time of Amelia’s obituary. Amelia Peyron died in February 1995 in Tucson at the age of 96. She had many, many grandchildren. I will try to add a link to an electronic copy of Robert Sanchez’s file.

Above. Click to enlarge. The 1950 census shows three children living at the Peyron home: Dora Bonnano (age 29), Julia Peyron (age 22) and grandaughter Jacqueline Bonnano (Jackie – age 5).

Salvador Gastelum Sanchez.   Below. Click to enlarge. By the 1920 census only Salvador and Joaquín Sanchez are shown living at home. The 1920 census states he was a machinist on the railroad, most likely the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Below. His registration for the draft states he is 18 years of age and living on 90 Convent street in 1918. The 1926 Tucson directory lists a Salvador Sanchez living at 496 Convent Street.

Above. Above. Click to enlarge. Ancestry.com lists Salvador Sanchey in the 1940 census. This actually is Salvador Sanchez. His name appears below the Peyron Family at the same address as “Amelia” his sister: 206 E 24th Street Tucson. The column next to his age (39) shows Salvador as widowed (WO). I found no marriage records or death records. A family tree in Ancestry.com shows him married to Ysabel Olivas (Born 1873) but that would be Guadalupe’s wife.

Robert Sanchez identifies Salvador G. Sanchez but does not contain any information. The metadata in ancestry.com states “Salvador Sanchez died on July 15, 1972, in Tucson, Arizona, when he was 72 years old”. The date of his death must come from a ancestry.com data source; however, no record of his death appears on ancestry.com. Likewise there are references to a wife Rita. The 1959 Tucson directory lists a Salvador Sanchez working as a laborer living with a “Rita” on 208 S. Main Street. But there is no record of their marriage and nothing to corroborate the directory.

Joaquin Sanchez.  As we all do, we age. I met my Grandfather Joaquín for the first time in 1967. He was already an older man probably in his 70’s. As the youngest, we didn’t get a chance to get to know each other. And he preferred to speak in Spanish. My grandmother was in bed a lot in the those years. I remember their living room having an altar with statues of the Virgin Mary and candles. In his small backyard there was a small corn garden.

I’m sure my parents had more photos of my grandfather but I don’t know what happened to them. Below my older brother David (27) is hugging my Grandfather Joaquín I think around 1978. I took this photo of a montage I had on my wall for years.

Above. My Grandfather is holding my brother David around 1952-1953 in San Diego. Grandfather Joaquín would have been 56-67 years old.

Above, the 1917 military draft form states his address as 215 South Covenent. He was still living at home with his parents. Five years later Matilde de Machado and Joaquín Gastello Sanchez were married in 1922. Below is their marriage certificate.

All I ever heard as a child is that Grandfather Joaquín married Matilda de Machado late in his life. He actually married her quite young. She was widow whose husband was killed in card fight in Ajo Az. Records say she married a Jose Machado in 1913 and a Jose Ybarra Machado died in 1919 in Ajo, Az. Ajo was booming copper hub with lots of young men.

Public Life. Below is an interesting record that may explains photos in his album. This 1924 article is from the Tucson spanish newspaper “El Tucsonense”. He is announced as part of a club “Alma Joven” to help young men and women realize their potential. There are photos of groups of young men and women as well as what look to be club events.

Below. The image below shows the 1930 census and 1940 census for Joaquín and Matilde. The 1930 census shows that Grandfather Joaquín married Matilde with three children: Armida, Laura and Alfonso Machado. My father Ernesto Sanchez, was born June 3rd 1927. His name appears on a separate census page following Alfonso in the 1930 census.

Family At the time 1930 census, Joaquín and Matilde were renting a house at 134 W. Cushing. Below the 1930 census, 1940 census shows Joaquín and Matilde as the owner’s of a house at 916 South 10 Avenure (Joaquín 44). He only went to school through the 4th grade but became long term employee as a machinest with Southern Pacific Railroad. By the 1940 Census, Armida and Laura Machado girls had left home, leaving Alfonso (19), my dad (13) and a little sister 4 years younger than him known as Delia. My Dad eventually adopted the paternal name of Matlide as his middle name: Ernest Estrada Sanchez.

From ancestry.com, I found that Alfonso Estrada Machado was born in Ajo, Az on Nov. 11 1918. In 1942 he joined the Army during World War II. In 1950, at age 31 he married a 20 year old Delia Bojorquez. The children I found on ancestry.com: Vivian M. Cuesta, Joe L. Machado, Alfonso J. Dennis C. Machado and Paul P. Machado. A 1959 directory lists Alfonso as Captain at the Fire Depatment in Tucson. He died in 1987.

From ancestry.com, Matilde’s daughter, Laura Machado, was born in Ajo around 1917. Her name appears as Laura Estrada Machado on her birth certificate. She married Vincente Valenzuela. The 1950 census shows their two children: Mildred (11 years) and Gloria ( 6 years)

Armida married Enrique Acuna in 1939. By the 1950 census, they had two children Henry and Robert. They named their third child Armando. Armida died in 2005 at the age of 91 years old.

I found a birth certificate for Delia Sanchez on Ancestry.com. And. then I found a record of her death May, 27 2017. I have no idea why I never knew my father’s siblings or my Sanchez cousins. What happened to my paternal side of the family? As the youngest child of Ernest Sanchez (1927-2007) I was raised far away from Tucson Arizona in San Diego California. Yet, the only family I was close to was my mother’s side of the family. This of course is a subject for stories.

Joaquín and Matilde. I could not find birth or death certificates for either of my grandparents. I know Matilde died in 1969. I went to her funeral. I know my grandfather married at least three other women. The first was Anna Saboda (not sure of spelling) in 1970. I believe he became involved in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She died and he married another and she died too. I believe a third was controversial. I never found neither of their birth or death certificates. But my son and I visited their cemetary plot in 2007. Their back together. And note the plaque references Company D from World War 1.

I’m not a geneologist. I’m curious by nature. Investigating my grandfather’s family has given me a better perspective. We’re born, we live and we die. Life is short. Scientifically, our unique live’s present a mathematical uncertainty. We do not choose when we are born, where we are born or who we’re born to. But we do carry the DNA that propogates the life we are rewarded with. We do the best we can with what we are given. Living for a value and passion, be it love, our interests, or something positive. For we will be gone but our DNA will live on through us or our distant family.